Britain’s Sam Lowes put on a masterclass of consistency to take victory in today’s Moto2 race at the Jerez MotoGP round, setting a Lorenzo-esque pace to slowly gap Jonas Folger and extend his championship lead to ten points.
Lowes took the lead from the German’s Dynavolt-backed Kalex when he ran wide at turn six on lap two and then poured on a raft of 1’43.3s laps to haul himself and Folger away from Alex Rins in third place.
The Gresini Kalex man then just kept his consistency to such a degree that Folger was unable to match it as the tyres began to wear, and he began to pull away, upping his gap to a second with nine laps to go.
With five laps left, Lowes had a two-second lead and was still lapping at 1’43.6, extended the gap to 2.8s with three laps to go, while Folger had no answer, crossing the line with a three-second advantage and a stand-up wheelie with nac-nac.
Rins had nothing for Folger and himself finished 2.3s in arrears for the final podium spot and loses nine points to Lowes in the championship chase.
Franco Morbidelli took fourth place while Johann Zarco benefitted from a collection of crashes, including an improving Miguel Oliveria, Sandro Cortese and Lorenzo Baldassari on the last lap to nick fifth place.
Thomas Luthi was sixth, Taka Nakagami seventh, Dominique Aegerter eighth and Louis Salom ninth and Xavier Simeon in tenth.
Britain’s Danny Kent crashed on lap five, sliding out of 15th place at turn six, the same place he fell in morning warm-up. The reigning Moto3 champion did get back on but damage forced him to retire.
